It is known to provide hoof pads with distantly arranged legs within the frog portion of the hoof. EP 893 057 discloses such a hoof pad wherein a line of holes disposed in the hoof pad in the area of the white line of the hoof is used for attaching the pad to the hoof. This type of hoof pad is adaptable to different hoof sizes by spreading the legs of the pad to a certain extent adjacent their ends, so that one size of pad is suitable for several hoof sizes as the required size of the hoof pad can be attained by using plate-like connecting means between the ends of the legs whereby the hoof pad can be spread or, respectively, contracted so that the line of holes within the pad can be located over the respective white line of the hoof. Different connecting means are provided, such as for instance a clip, the free end of which may be continuously adjusted and attached to the adjacent other end of the clip by screwing, sticking together or welding. Moreover, crosspieces are also proposed, which are shiftable with respect to one another, for bridging the distance between the ends of the legs of the hoof pad. The crosspieces are attached to the legs with a connecting screw device.
In each case, the prior art connecting means are structured such that they only connect the ends of the legs defining the frog opening, but do not form a uniform closure of the ends of the legs. Thus, the connecting means are either asymmetrically configured with respect to the longitudinal axis of the hoof pad, covering only one of the legs or, in case of a symmetrical configuration, the connecting bars establish only a point-like connection of the ends of the legs with screws, wherein the ends are provided with screw bores corresponding to respective bores formed within the connecting bars, into which the corresponding screws are inserted.
Moreover, the known hoof pads are provided with a nap-like structure on the bottom surface, consisting of single naps connected to each other by bars the height of which is less than the height of the naps. In this manner, the hoof pad prevents the hoof from slipping or sliding on the ground surface.
It has been found out that the attachment of the hoof pad with nails requires precise adjustment of the pad on the hoof so that the nails hit the so-called white line of the hoof. This practice is time-consuming and cannot be exactly turned out because of the fact that the points of the nails often move laterally when hit with a hammer because of the flexibility of the plastic material of the pad whereby the so-called white line is missed.
The published European patent application 00 109 538.9 includes a proposal even more pertinent to the mentioned subject matter, because it describes the connection of the ends of the legs of the hoof pad by means of a connecting bar configured as a snug-fit-piece insertable into recesses within the ends of the legs in form of flat lateral bows.
The invention concerns a horseshoe-like, plate-like hoof pad of plastic material having two legs, which can be adapted to the size of the hoof by a device for changing the distance of the two legs with respect to one another, which device having the form of a connecting bar engageable with the legs of the pad within the area of their ends, which pad having a lower surface contacting the underground provided with profile elements. The connecting bar is configured as a surface covering, separate snug-fit-piece, completing essentially completely the form of the circumference of the ends of the legs in order to connect them to each other, whereas these ends are also provided with a circumferential configuration filling excesses cut into the ends of the legs in form of surface covering, lateral bows. Moreover, the snug-fit-piece can be inserted into the surface or lower face of the ends of the legs and can be essentially completely integrated therein, in order to maintain the ends of the legs connected with one another due to configuration and force and in order to replace the snug-fit-piece by removing it from the ends of the legs, wherein at least some of the profile elements are defined by an edge for the formation of a depression in each of which at least one hoof nail may be placed.
The use of the snug-fit-piece between the ends of the legs of the hoof pad causes the ends of the legs to remain fixed so that under load they do not spread to the extent they do when the connecting means for the two ends of the legs is only a narrow, straight or bent bar which is fixed to the ends of the legs. The proposed snug-fit-piece is able to connect the ends of the legs configurationally as well as symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the hoof pad. This connection means is advantageous because it counteracts the forces affecting the ends of the legs during the use of the hoof pad, which forces tend to deform the ends of the legs. Because of the special configuration of the circumference of the snug-fit-piece the withhold forces developed by the snug-fit-piece piece are transferred into an essentially larger cross section of the ends of the legs resulting in a less stress of the material at the ends of the legs so that the connecting bar does not break under load. This is of essential importance because the deformation resistance of the plastic material under the influence of pressure and temperature is less than that of common materials for hoof pads, namely metals.
Moreover, the use of snug-fit-pieces as connecting means enables a relatively simple adaptation of the hoof pad to different size hoofs and especially to different locations of the so-called white line of the hoof, which is the only means for the reception of fastening means. Thus, by using different sizes of snug-fit-pieces, a definite size of hoof plate can be spread to a certain extent within the frog area.
Besides these apparent improvements, the proposed hoof pads may be adapted to improve health and effectiveness of the legs or hoofs, respectively, of horses particularly with regard to the natural hoof function and the anatomic structure of the horse foot, its capacity for bearing a load, its displacement of weights and force effects and load effects considering inter alia the behaviour of wild horses.
The above objective is solved according to the invention by providing the head part connecting the two legs of the pad with a flat front edge and the running surface of the pad with a running surface portion extending at both sides of the middle axis of the pad essentially to the outer edge of the legs. The running surface portion is free of profile bodies and is provided with a wedge-shaped cross section enlarged in the direction of the ends of the legs and having on the middle axis a width corresponding to about half of the width of the head portion between its front edge and its rear edge. The head portion adjacent to the running surface portion is free of profile bodies and a further running surface portion is located provided with nob-like profile bodies.
By this configuration of the hoof pad, the rolling quality of the bottom surface of the hoof pad on the ground is improved simultaneously reducing the abrasion of the pad material so that the load on the hoof and the dispersion of forces affecting the horse foot are improved such that the danger of injury to the foot bones or the horse legs, as well as pathological deformations of the bone structure, are essentially reduced even under extreme loads that are sometimes experienced by competition horses.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lifetime of the hoof pad can be improved further by putting the connecting bar after its insertion at the ends of the legs under tension and not under pressure because pressure can result in bowing the bar.
Moreover it is also advantageous to provide the running surface of the pad adjacent to the head portion connecting the two legs, with slot-like cavities extending in the direction of the width of the legs and being separated from each other by dumb-bell-like profile bodies and being able to receive the heads of hoof nails which are hammered into the so-called white line of the hoof.
Further advantageous embodiments are characterized in the sub-claims.